


The Shadow

by ohpleaselarry



Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, Crankiplier - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Cuddling, Denial, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Futuristic, Guns, Hidden Feelings, Kissing, M/M, Magic, Pining, as every fic I write lmao, i stayed up till 5am writing the whole thing in one go, just a tad, lots of that shit, pls help, superhero themes, this is a shorter one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:00:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22655122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohpleaselarry/pseuds/ohpleaselarry
Summary: At around the same time crime rates hit an all time high, a shadowed vigilante emerges to fight against it. They say if you look into his eyes you will become petrified.Ethan’s never been one to chase danger, but the universe just will not stop shoving him into it.
Relationships: Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor, Markiplier/CrankGameplays
Comments: 39
Kudos: 379





	The Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> Rewatched batman begins recently and it inspired this fic. I always wanted to do a secret double life fic with this duo but could never think of one that fits well. Then I thought of Mark in the batman suit and I knew I had the one. 
> 
> I’ve never been to LA, so places and streets are obviously 100% made up (unless I’m a great guesser). To help mask that a bit, I decided to play with the timeline. Imagine unus annus, but like if it existed a bit more in the future when global warming’s really fucked us. Aka: my excuse to make it cold, rainy, and moody in LA of all places. So like the present, but in a futurish world? Lmao fuck off I do what I want!
> 
> I knew I wanted some “magic” elements in, but I wanted it to be something that could in fact be real if we had any proof 😏. So a lot of the story uses canon themes that we know are true, with just a dash of pixie dust to change it up. 
> 
> Yall I had more fun writing this one than any other fic I’ve written on this site. There’s just something about a bit of magic that makes writing just actually so enjoyable. Though the con is that having too much fun did lead to sloppier writing, less flow, and absolutely no editing. I’ll come back and fix it at some point. That’s a problem for future me ;)
> 
> Sorry for the long note haha I hope you enjoy!

I’m driving you home.” Mark slips on his shoes, reaching to unlock his many deadbolts. 

“You’re tired. We’ve been filming all day. C’mon, I’m sure the Uber can handle it.” 

Mark hands Ethan his jacket. December is just around the corner, so hopefully the cold ass rain they’ve been getting will turn into snow soon, give a little joy. 

“There’s been three instances of Uber related murders just this month. I’m driving you.” Mark says. Ethan can’t argue with that. 

They jog out in the rain to Mark’s Tesla, turning on the heat as soon as possible. The crime rate has hit an all time high this year. Enough that even donut shops have armed security now. Nobody walks alone anymore, even during broad daylight. 

Ethan shivers and looks out of the window as they back out of the driveway. He remembers reading about a time when LA had lovely weather year round. Now, it snows in the winter and burns to shit in the summer. Not to mention record breaking rainfall. It’s just crazy to think about how if Ethan were born maybe ten or twenty years earlier, they could be at the beach right now. 

“I’m thinking about going home.” Ethan murmurs, knees to his chest, watching the red traffic light reflecting off of the rain that hits the windshield. 

“Me too. Don’t worry, Christmas is right around the corner.” 

“No..I don’t mean a visit. I mean actually going home. Permanently.” 

Mark looks over to him, shocked. The light turns green and he has to look away, but his furrowed eyebrows don’t disappear. 

“The channel..”

“I would leave after the year’s up. It’s just...I hate being scared to live, you know? When’s the last time you went to a movie theatre? There’s a shooting for nearly every premiere!” 

Mark doesn’t respond, frowning. They arrive at Ethan’s place shortly. It’s not too far of a drive. He parks but shuts the car off, so Ethan stays inside. 

“What about our big projects? For when the channel’s done.”

“You saying you’ll miss me? Like I’m your best friend and you don’t want me to leave?” Ethan asks, tilting his head onto the headrest and giving him a puppy eyed look. 

“No. Definitely not. I’d throw a party, actually. It’d be nice to not have to see your ugly mug all the time.” They both know it’s not true. Mark smiles, and Ethan can’t help but follow as well. 

“I don’t know..maybe I’m just feeling weird today. See you on Saturday? We have that art contest video to film.” Ethan changes the subject, and Mark looks like he’s glad about it. 

“Yep. See you then.” The man replies, eyelids heavy with how tired he is. 

Ethan smiles and gets out of the car, rushing through the rain to the front door.

Mark watches him thoughtfully until he’s completely inside, then reaches under his steering wheel, pressing the latch there to release the cell phone hidden inside for just this purpose. He makes a call, taking a deep breath to mentally prepare for the events that will take place once his call is made. He looks back to Ethan’s front door. It’s worth it. 

-

Ethan, with a waffle between his teeth, presses Mark’s doorbell with his foot. Evan is the one who answers. 

“Damn, here lemme..” he takes all the art supplies from Ethan’s arms, freeing his hands. 

Ethan takes a bite from his cold waffle and steps inside, shutting the door with his foot and following Evan to the living room, where there are canvas’ set up. 

“You didn’t forget the palettes right?” Mark asks, adjusting a white light behind the camera. 

“Nope! Oh I ordered some baguettes from Panera. Uber eats driver should be here in ten or so.” Ethan finishes his waffle and sets up the left angle camera, adjusting for the lighting and such. 

“Baguettes? I couldn’t find the berets. We’re just gonna be dudes in stripes eating bread.” Mark says, grinning. 

Ethan finishes the camera and steps into the filming space so Mark can properly get the lights angled. 

“Nah. We can draw moustaches and do shitty accents like in the markiplier makes art video.” Ethan suggests. Mark just shrugs, glancing between him and the light as he gets the perfect angle. 

The doorbell rings again. 

“Ah! Oui oui!” Ethan prances away towards the door. He almost reaches it when Mark stops him, phone in hand. 

“It’s not Uber eats. Let me answer.” He says, handing Ethan the phone. The boy follows him to the door, looking down at the livestream of his front camera, showing a man with a ponytail who’s waiting at the door. He closes the phone as they approach the door. 

Mark opens the door just a crack. Ethan’s standing about five feet away down the hall so he can’t hear what’s said, but then Mark is backing slowly away, letting the man in. 

Ethan’s confused, until he sees the shiny handgun in the man’s hand. Another man steps from around the corner outside, also holding a gun. His heart-rate spikes, hands instinctively coming up in surrender. 

Mark backs up slowly to him, then his hand reaches for him, holding him protectively behind his back. Ethan begins to shake in fear. 

“Cute. You two together or something?” One of the guys asks. They aren’t even wearing masks or anything. The criminals these days don’t even care if they’re caught. 

“What would that matter? Just tell me what you want.” Mark deadpans. His voice isn’t shaky in the slightest. He isn’t even holding up his hands. One hand’s at his side casually, the other around Ethan, keeping him in place against his back. 

“Money. Electronics we can sell. Nice jewellery, maybe.” The other man says. They’re both grinning. Ethan is scared shitless but he tries to memorise every telling detail he can about these guys for the police report later. Not that it matters much. Police are so swamped with murders and assaults that they hardly have time for burglaries these days. 

“There are four expensive cameras in the living room. Two PC’s and three laptops in a room down the hall. I doubt you’ll bother with the mounted TV seeing as you came in a car. I have cash and my credit card in my wallet.” 

“What about him?” One of the men asks, then his gun points to Ethan’s head peeking over Mark’s shoulder. Ethan is frozen in fear. He’s never had a real gun pointed at him before. 

Mark’s hand on him tightens. 

“He has a wallet as well. I can get you those first, if you’d like.” Mark offers. 

“How nice of you. Go ahead.” 

Mark nods, then he turns around to face Ethan. The boy is frozen, hands shaking terribly where they’re held up in surrender still. He can’t move to get his wallet. 

Mark seems to notice this. He reaches into Ethan’s pocket for him. Ethan watches him, heart hammering in his chest. 

“When I step over to them, duck.” Mark says so quietly Ethan barely hears him, then he turns back around, reaching into his own pocket for his wallet. 

“Okay, here.” Mark says to the men. Ethan watches his feet. As soon as he takes a step, Ethan’s crouched into a ball, covering his head in protection. He hears some ruckus, things hitting the floor with clangs and thumps. 

He’s only ducked down for five seconds before there’s hands on him. 

“You okay?” Mark asks, taking his hands away from his head. 

Ethan looks behind him, finding the two men unconscious on the floor, the clips taken from the guns that are now next to Ethan instead of in their hands. 

“What happened? H-how—“

“You’re going to have a panic attack. Hey, take some deep breaths with me.” Mark turns his head back to him with a hand on his chin. Ethan suddenly notices how quickly he’s breathing, how much he’s shaking. He takes some deep breaths, eyes on Mark’s. 

“I called the police. I didn’t want to interrupt and cause a reaction in case one of them had a trigger finger.” Evan says, stepping down the hall and closing the still open door. The cold breeze stops coming in, making Ethan shiver as he warms up a bit. 

Ethan’s breathing evens out a bit, but he’s still shaking some. Mark stands and pulls him up, and his legs feel a bit like jelly. He can’t stop looking down at the men, sprawled out on the floor. 

“I took self defence classes a few years ago, if you remember.” Mark says, watching him watch the men. Evan goes to the kitchen and comes back with a glass of water, handing it to Ethan. 

“How are you two so calm? We could’ve..” Ethan closes his eyes and drinks the water, not even wanting to picture what could’ve happened. 

Mark takes the water from him and puts an arm around him, other hand pulling Evan in. They group hug for a bit. Ethan takes the hug gladly, calming down. 

A bit later, a police woman finally arrives, taking the men into handcuffs, and their guns for evidence. Mark gets her email to send in his camera footage, and she takes all of their statements. 

As it ends up, that night after a good few hours of getting over it, they eventually record the art video as if nothing’s happened. 

All the while, Ethan thinks of nothing but the fact that back home in Maine, they haven’t had much more than regular fights or thieves in five years. 

Here, it’s every five minutes. When he really thinks about it, is the channel really worth risking his life?

-

“Hey, did you see this?” Kathryn asks, bounding into the room and stepping up to the island where Ethan munches on some cereal. 

He peeks at her phone, finding an articleabout how a woman held at gunpoint last night was saved by someone. 

“She said she couldn’t see his face. That he was in some sort of set up that made him look like a shadow. He came in just as the dude cocked the gun and knocked him out, tied him up for the police, then left. Like some sort of superhero!” Kathryn seems very excited for this. Ethan smiles, skimming through the article a bit. 

“Makes sense that people might start to take things into their own hands. You know Evan called the police the second those men came in Mark’s house? They didn’t get there for thirty minutes. We all could’ve been dead in that time.” 

Kathryn pats his back comfortingly. 

“I’m glad you didn’t.” She sighs. Ethan aww’s and hugs her. They laugh goofily and the mood is up again. 

Ethan’s stuck a bit. He loves his friends. He loves unus annus and he loves being with everyone here, but he wants to move home. There’s no way he’d be able to convince everyone to come with him, that’s just absurd. So he has to decide. Basically choose between his friends and their channel, or safety. 

Before, it was just nervousness about being in public with all the shootings and murders. Now, after being held at gunpoint at a place Ethan spends a lot of his time, Ethan hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since. He’s considered getting a gun a good few times, and he locks each room’s door as he’s in it. He’s paranoid, all the time. Is that really anyway to live? Being afraid in your own home? Kathryn thinks he has ptsd, but she wasn’t there. She’s still in the mindset of ‘it hasn’t happened to me yet so I’m fine’. 

Ethan loses his appetite thinking about it. He shuts his eyes as he remembers the barrel of the gun. Could’ve gone off at any second. It would’ve gone right through his head, or Mark’s head. Instant death. Mark stood in front of him the whole time. He could’ve died right there, slumped down on the floor. Nothing but a body. 

Ethan shakes his head at himself and presses his fingers to his temples, forcing himself to breathe. He remembers the incident again, but this time he remembers Mark, crouched with him, eyes warm as he had him breathe. How the man could be so calm and brave in that situation, Ethan has no idea. 

His phone dinging makes him jump in surprise. 

‘ _Wanna come over?_ ’  Mark’s texted, as if he can just sense Ethan’s anxiety. 

‘ _Yes_ ’

_ ‘Don’t take an Uber.’ _

-

Mark locks his billion locks once Ethan’s through the door. It’s nice and warm in the house. He takes off his shoes and they head to the living room, where re-runs of Scrubs are playing on the TV. They sit on the couch and Mark tosses him a throw blanket. 

It’s quiet for a few minutes. They watch the show. It’s a funny one, but neither of them laugh. There’s a weird tension. Not between them, just in general. 

“I haven’t slept much since it happened. I’m paranoid all the time and I can’t even eat because every time I sit down and relax I remember how we both could’ve died. I love the channel and being around everyone I have here but I’m starting to think it’s not worth the fear or my life.” Ethan word vomits a bit, getting it all out in one go. 

Mark’s eyebrows are furrowed and he’s frowning. 

“You want to leave? Before the channel’sdone?” Mark asks for confirmation. He looks disappointed, or maybe sad. 

Ethan feels bad. He exhales slowly as if that will stop his tears that are quickly coming on. 

Mark sees he’s getting emotional and he reaches out, pulling him along until Ethan curls up against his chest and cries a bit. He doesn’t know if he’s crying because of what happened or because of the thought of moving back home. Maybe both. 

Mark uncharacteristically holds him, hand petting the back of his head. He’s not really the touchy type, but Ethan guesses being held at gun point might have changed him a bit too. 

“How are you so chill and I’m like this?” Ethan complains, sniffling. He fists the front of Mark’s shirt and stays there. They’re basically cuddling. It would probably be awkward in any other context but this one. 

“I’m not chill. When he pointed that gun at you I was scared shitless. I think about that moment all day and I wonder what you’re doing. If you’re fucking..laying in your kitchen with a hole in your head from some other piece of shit.” 

Ethan realises that Mark’s fear tends to mend into anger, while Ethan’s fear heads barrelling headfirst right into anxiety. 

“You worry about me?” Ethan picks his head up from Mark’s chest, grinning teasingly. Mark never admits little things like this. He’s more of the reserved type. More of the ‘bring you a coffee’ instead of verbally saying he loves you type. Actions do speak louder than words, so Ethan’s never minded it. He knows Mark cares about him despite all his teasing, but it’s really nice to hear it proven sometimes. 

He expects Mark to rolls his eyes and say some jokingly mean stuff like he always does when Ethan gets all mushy. 

Instead, he turns his head, face serious and eyes dark when they meet his. 

“Yeah. All the time.” He says. 

It’s like..really sincere. Ethan can feel his cheeks heating up. Suddenly, he’s noticing that they’re casually pressed together on Mark’s couch. He’s noticing how Mark’s hand is still around him, resting on his lower back. He’s noticing that this close, he can see the small specks of green at the edges of his eyes. 

They’re really close. What does he do? Back away? Lay back down and just cuddle with the dude? Make a joke? 

“Wanna make out?” is what tumbles out of Ethan’s mouth. Fucking hell, he’s a panicky one. 

Thankfully, Mark’s lips stretch into a smile and he finally breaks their eye contact, laying his head against the arm rest behind him. Not pulling away, though. Arm still around Ethan’s back. So Ethan follows, laying his head back into Mark’s chest, letting go of his weird second guessing. Mark’s not pushing him away, so why not have a casual cuddling session? That’s platonic, right?

“At least take me to dinner first.” Mark mumbles, chest rumbling as he talks. He’s really warm. Is it weird that Ethan has the fleeting thought that he wishes they had more life and death experiences so this can happen more? He pushes that thought away immediately, disgusted with himself. Held at gun point so he can hug his friend? Yeah, that’s a great trade off for sure. 

“I can basically hear you overthinking everything. Just relax.” Mark says, breaking his train of thought. The train that was indeed running 2 million miles an hour. Ethan realises he’s tensed up. He relaxes as Mark’s hand starts to graze comfortingly across his back. 

“Hard to relax.” Ethan admits, scooting up a bit so his nose is pressed to Mark’s neck. It’s just a bit more comfortable. Is this gay? Nah. 

“You said you haven’t really slept since it happened, so sleep now. I’m not tired, I’ll be here.” 

Ethan shakes his head, fist tightening in Mark’s shirt. 

“I can’t—“

“Yeah you can. C’mon, you’re more protected here than anywhere. I’ll be right here when you wake up.” 

Ethan finds it hard to argue with that. If Mark can fight off two dudes with guns with his bare hands, Ethan definitely feels like he could protect him. Despite his “I don’t trust you” moments for their videos, he does trust the guy. With his life, now. 

He sighs and watches the TV, a different episode of Scrubs is on now. He _is_ really tired. Within minutes, his eyes flutter and he’s out. 

-

-

Mark turns his head away from the TV once Ethan is finally relaxed in his arms, breathing even. Asleep.

He basks in this a bit. He maintains his hand grazing over Ethan’s back and pulls the throw blanket over both of them. The boy hums in his sleep and shivers, moving even closer. There’s no space between them. 

Mark ignores the fluttering in his stomach, as he always does, and wonders how Ethan would react if he woke up and Mark was holding his hand. 

The man reaches for the boy’s limb thrown over his torso and just fiddles with his peanut allergy bracelet instead. He feels a wave of protectiveness wash over him. He hates seeing the boy so distraught over this. Nobody should have to be this scared. Scared enough that he’s losing sleep and finding it hard to eat. 

Mark decides he doesn’t care what lengths he has to go to. 

He will make Ethan feel safe, and he will find a way to convince the boy to stay here. 

-

-

Ethan wakes up warm, well rested. It’s weird. 

Lifting his head, he’s greeted with soft eyes and a smile. 

“How long was I out?” He asks, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. He’s a bit cold pulling away from the man, who pouts a bit as well when he sits up. 

“A few hours. It’s maybe 9 or 10.” Mark says, reaching for the coffee table and handing Ethan a glass of water. The boy looks to the windows, finding it is indeed dark out. Damn. 

“Sorry. I should—“

“Do you wanna stay over? For a while?” Mark interrupts. Ethan would ask if he’s joking if his face wasn’t so serious. He was just about to say he should head home. 

“A while?” Ethan asks. 

“Yeah. A few days, or weeks. I don’t know. I’d feel better knowing I can check up on you anytime. Kathryn can come as well.”

“Kat’s headed home tomorrow. She’s going to spend all of December with her family, remember?” 

“Oh yeah. You shouldn’t be alone over there anyway. You’d never get sleep.” Mark wags his finger and stands up, taking the now empty water glass and heading over to the kitchen just in the next room. 

“I don’t want to be a burden.” Ethan says, folding his knees to his chest and hugging them. 

“You aren’t. I have a guest room, you know. C’mon, you’ll be safe and it’ll make recording a lot easier.” Mark steps back into the room and gives him this cute puppy eyed look. 

“I’ll need to pack some clothes.”

-

A few days later, Ethan’s sitting on the couch brainstorming video ideas when the news playing on the TV just for white noise suddenly catches his attention. 

“Now for the story everyone’s waiting on. The anonymous vigilante, nicknamed The Shadow by LA residents, has saved a sixth person last night. This time, the woman claims he healed her stab wound with some sort of magic! More on this after the break.” It cuts to commercial, and Ethan rolls his eyes with a smile. Everyone’s talking about Shadow online already. He’s grown in popularity quite fast despite only having made his first known appearance last week. The victims who have been saved get questioned on every social media they own. They all say the same thing. A man, dressed in an all black lightly armoured get up. Nothing but his eyes showing. 

Mark steps into the room with a slice of toast and his laptop. He plops down next to him. 

“What do you think, 1 or 2?” He asks, showing a shot of one of their bits from the art video he’s editing. It’s the same bit but from two different cameras. 

“Mmm, 2. Shows both of our faces better. First one cuts you off just a little. Hey, you heard about this Shadow guy?” Ethan asks, pointing to the TV. 

Mark rolls his eyes, editing with one hand while he finishes his toast. 

“I think it’s bullshit. What gives him the right to take the law into his own hands?” 

Ethan shrugs, watching him edit.

“I like it. It’s like batman or something. At least _someone’s_ trying to fix this city. He’s saved more people in the last few days than the police have in a month.” 

“Healing powers, though? And some dude swears he saw him fly.” Mark glances over at him with a deadpan look. 

Ethan reaches over to the laptop and brings up the saturation in the shot a tad. Mark hums in approval, nodding. 

“I don’t know. Don’t you like the thought of a little magic being real? Someone more advanced than humans that we can feel hope for? What if one of us meets this Shadow? I bet if he saves your ass you’d have a different opinion.” 

Mark chuckles and adds in the ending timer for the video. He’s almost finished. 

“I’ll let ya know if that ever happens.” Mark says, grinning like he knows it could never happen. Ethan smiles and looks back to the TV. 

While he’d love to believe in a flying hero with healing powers, he knows deep down that it’s only wishful thinking. That it’s merely a heroic man stopping crime who probably owns a grapple gun or something. In the end, does it really matter? Someone’s taking action, and it’s bound to make some change around here. Ethan, for one, is excited about a change. 

-

_ ”Here’s our wallets.” Mark says, stepping up to the men and handing their wallets over. The men just laugh, dropping them onto the floor carelessly.  _

“ _We don’t want your money.” One of them says, then he pulls the trigger. There’s no noise. Suddenly, they’ve disappeared and it’s just Ethan and Mark. Mark lies lifeless in his arms, blood seeping from the hole in his head_.

Ethan sits up with a gasp, breathing heavily, heart pounding in his chest. He looks around the guest room, calming down as he remembers where he is. That he’s okay. That Mark is just across the hall in his own bedroom, also okay. 

Though, Ethan feels paranoid like he does after watching a scary movie. He doesn’t think he would be able to fall back asleep right now. 

Picking up his phone, Ethan finds it’s 5 in the morning. He slides out of bed, clutching his phone and stepping up to the door. He opens it up and creeps across the hall, peeking into Mark’s room. It’s extremely dark, but Ethan can see a lump in the bed. 

“What’s wrong?” Mark suddenly asks, already awake. Ethan jumps in surprise and chews on his lip nervously. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. I had a bad dream and just came to check on you.” Then he hesitates at the door, not wanting to leave. 

“Haven’t slept yet, actually. C’mere.” Mark says. Ethan exhales in relief and steps into the room, shutting the door and crawling into the bed, laying on the pillow next to Mark, who turns to face him. Ethan can barely make his face out in the dark. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Mark asks, one arm folding under his head. Ethan pulls the man’s duvet up to his neck. The pillow smells like him. It’s nice. 

“It was pretty short and simple. The men were here. They shot you in the head. The b-blood...” Ethan’s stomach turns. He closes his eyes and breathes. 

“I’m surprised I’m the one dying in your nightmares, not yourself.” Mark murmurs. Ethan shrugs, not even knowing if Mark can see him do so in the darkness. 

“It was a pretty high possibility, ya know. You just stood there like a fuckin’ savage. As if you didn’t have two guns pointed at you.” 

“You have nightmares about me getting hurt. Aww, you worry about me too!” Mark does this high pitched voice. 

“Fuck off.” Ethan laughs, reaching out to weakly push at his chest. Mark catches his wrist, holding him there. Despite how dark and relaxing it is in here, Ethan can feel Mark’s heart racing. Maybe he gets anxious thinking about it too. 

There’s a slight shift. Just like when they were on the couch the first time. Ethan can hardly see, but there’s a tension he can’t explain. Mark’s hand is just slightly too tight around his wrist. Restricting him. 

“Wanna make out?” Mark asks this time. 

Ethan pulls his hand away, giggling. It’s now become their silence breaker, when things go weird. It’s been happening more lately. Ethan doesn’t know what it is, they just get in this weird headspace and sort of stare at each other. 

They did almost die together, though. That would bring anyone closer, probably. 

“You haven’t slept yet?” Ethan asks, putting his hands together under his head, getting comfortable. 

“Nah. Just thinking a lot about everything.” Mark murmurs. 

Ethan understands him completely. They quiet down for a bit. After about five minutes, Ethan reaches out but doesn’t touch him. 

“Wanna sleep?” He asks, and Mark doesn’t respond. Lifting his head, Ethan realises the man is already there, breathing evenly. 

Smiling, Ethan lies back down, nightmare forgotten, completely relaxed. Relaxed enough that he doesn’t care to go back to his room. He’s back asleep within minutes. 

-

Someone caught him on video. Shadow. 

The video is incredibly shaky, taken from what seems to be behind a dumpster on a sketchy street. About ten metres away, a man shoves what looks like a teenager around, loudly asking him if he likes it rough. 

Not even ten seconds in, a man appears literally out of the shadows. He says something quietly to the man that the camera doesn’t catch. He is in black head to toe, along with what could easily be an actual cloak. It looks sick, actually. 

“I-I’m sorry, please.” The bully says, backing away, but his hand reaches for his pocket. He brandishes a tiny revolver. The kind you could fit in your pocket. He shoots, making the cameraman jump in surprise. When the video steadies, the gunman is on the ground, slumped as Shadow ties his wrists together with a ziptie. 

“Make sure he ends up in a cell.” Shadow says. His voice is extremely deep, and clearly being changed by what is probably a voice changer in his suit, as his voice is slightly robotic. 

“T-thank you!” The teen calls, but The Shadow is already gone, disappeared into the darkness. The video ends soon after. 

Ethan shows it to Mark, who only seems half interested. 

“He’s badass, don’t you think?” Ethan asks after the video ends. Mark just shrugs, putting together a thumbnail for one of his main channel videos. 

“Could’ve gotten there earlier, before the kid got punched.” Mark says. Ethan glares at him, but finds a smile playing at the man’s lips. He shoves at his shoulder. 

“Just love it already! We both know you want to meet him.”

“Nah. Do you?” Mark asks, raising an eyebrow at him. Ethan shrugs, watching the video again. 

“Of course. I wonder if he can actually fly.” Ethan asks, wishing the video were any clearer or less shaky so he could see Shadow arrive on the scene. 

Poor Ethan didn’t know it yet, but his wish was destined to come true before that same time the next day. 

-

It’s only the 1st of December, but Ethan doesn’t want to shop for Christmas when the stores are packed. More people is never a good idea in this crime riddled town. 

It’s about 6pm and Ethan decides he’s done for the day, not wanting to be out when it gets dark in an hour. He walks down the road towards the parking garage, shopping bags all in one hand, answering a call from Mark with the other.

“Hey what’s up?” Ethan asks, pretending two of the bags he’s holding aren’t for the guy. 

“Your location services turns off when you aren’t on messages. I need you to turn them on permanently. Where are you right now?” He sounds just slightly breathy, worried. Ethan smiles, stepping out of the garage elevator onto the third floor where he’s parked. 

“Stalker. I just got finished with some early Christmas shopping. At the parking garage next to Tesco. Where are you?” Ethan asks, hearing what sounds like cars passing in Mark’s background. Wind, also. It’s not really windy here, but it might be where Mark is. 

“Home. Checking the mail. You’ll be here soon? I ordered some filets and asparagus.” 

“Mmm. I’ll definitely be there soon. Hey, lemme go. I need to load the car.” 

“Alright see ya in a bit.” Mark replies, hanging up. 

Ethan shoves his phone in his pocket, stepping up to the boot of his car. He scrambles for his keys in his other pocket, having to transfer the bags to his other hand as he does, struggling a bit. 

“Expensive purchases.” A voice says. 

Ethan startles, looking up and finding a fucking huge bodybuilder type standing a few feet away. He’s immediately on edge just because strangers are 90% of the time not great these days. Ethan wants to reach for his phone again, call Mark back. Or the police. Anything but what he is doing, which is just standing still, stupidly holding half of the bags, the others on the ground. 

“Yeah.” Ethan says, backing up when the man steps closer, tripping over himself into the car behind him. 

“T-take them.” Ethan pleads, dropping the other half of the bags. 

The man just grins, stepping right up to him. Ethan only comes up to the dudes pecs. He’s so fucking huge. 

The guy pulls out a knife. It’s rather small, or maybe his hand is just large. Ethan shakes in fear, knowing he can’t take this guy on. There’s no way in hell. 

“P-please, I have a family. I have a community of people—“

“I know who you are. I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time, actually.” The man presses the tip of the knife to Ethan’s lower stomach. He braces against the car, trying not to breathe too harshly. He’s never been stabbed, but he’s probably about to find out. 

“You can have whatever you want. Y-you seem like a nice guy. Let’s just forget about this. I can get you—“

“I’d like you, hunny.” The man grins, and Ethan suddenly realises what is about to happen. 

He’d rather be stabbed and left for dead. 

“N-no, please, I’ve n-never, I’m not—“

“Shh, I’ll be gentle, hun.” The man says, pressing the knife just slightly more against him when he wriggles too much. His other hand, reaching for his face. 

“I won’t.” A new voice says, and suddenly the man disappears, flying back into Ethan’s car and flopping onto the concrete like he isn’t nothing but muscle. 

Ethan looks over, eyes widening at the black figure. The Shadow. In the flesh. Yep, it’s a cloak on him. Confirmed. 

Ethan hyperventilates a bit against the car behind him, watching the disgusting man try to fight back against the Shadow. He easily outweighs him in all aspects, but the Shadow knocks the man out with a skilled chop to where his shoulder meets his neck, then he picks the dude up and ties a rope around his hands, then attaches the rope to the concrete pillar across the ceiling so the man is held up by his arms. 

Then, the Shadow faces him, face pointed to the floor so Ethan can’t see his eyes. Ethan expects him to take off like all of the victims said he does, but instead he approaches him. Ethan instinctively leans away, holding his breath when the Shadow stops just in front of him. His head under his cloak hood is slightly armoured, and his mouth area has small holes in the armour, like a speaker. Definitely a voice changer. He’s not too much taller than Ethan, and he doesn’t even look terribly muscled. How he has that strength, Ethan has no clue. 

Shadow reaches out, lifting Ethan’s shirt. The boy suddenly realises the man is checking where the knife was pressed to him. 

“Don’t be afraid anymore. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” The Shadow says, face still down. 

“T-thank you...but why me?” Ethan asks, breathing heavily with adrenaline. It’s like meeting a real life avenger or something. The Shadow never talks too much to the victims. Never gets close enough that anyone could identify that. Everyone knows that. So why is he here? Standing so close?

“You feel unsafe in this city, but I am always here to protect you.” 

“How do you know how I feel?” Ethan asks, breathless. The man looks away and turns to leave. 

“Wait! Is it true you can fly?” Ethan calls after him. The Shadow stops, turning his head but not enough to face him. Then, he spins on his heel and fucking swan dives right over the concrete balcony behind the cars. 

Ethan rushes over to the balcony, standing on his tip toes to peek over the edge. He’s three stories up, and there’s two more levels above him. Nobody can survive that fall onto the busy street below, and yet, he’s nowhere to be seen. Ethan looks up instead. There, on a far taller building across the wide street, a black figure is crouched on the rooftop ledge, his cloak flowing in the wind behind him, looking right at him. 

Ethan grins. The Shadow jumps off the ledge onto the roof of that building and out of Ethan’s eyesight. 

The boy turns around and slides down the balcony wall to sit for a minute, knees weak. 

Holy shit. 

-

“Okay, okay, one sentence at a time.” Mark says, taking the bags from Ethan’s hands and setting them on the table. Two of the gifts are his, but Ethan’s so excited that he doesn’t even care. 

“The Shadow! He fucking—he talked to me! He’s so badass, you have no clue. He beat this rapist dude off of me, who looked like John Cena or something with his arms, and knocked him out like it was nothing! Then he—he came up and told me not to be afraid anymore. He knew I felt unsafe in the city, and he doesn’t talk to people but he talked to me! And he fucking flew, I swear. There’s no way—I never saw a grapple gun. It was just him—“ Ethan’s out of breath. Mark looks beyond confused. He takes his wrists and leads him to the couch, having him sit. 

“Rapist dude?!” Mark asks incredulously. 

“Oh, yeah, some dude in the parking garage. Mad creepy. Recognised me from the videos. That’s not the point! It was strange. It was like he knew me or something, the Shadow. He told me he would protect me, that I don’t need to be afraid anymore.” Ethan grins, all star struck. Mark shakes his head, running a hand through his hair stressfully. 

“This dude stalking you or something?” He asks, eyebrows furrowing. Ethan shrugs. 

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind. He said he will always be there. I feel like...better. I feel like, like seeing a movie. Going out at night for drinks. Sleeping with my door unlocked.

Mark laughs, shaking his head. 

“Alright, chill out with that one. He might say that to all the cute boys he saves.” Mark says, raising an eyebrow. Ethan giggles, poking the man’s side. 

“I knew you thought I was cute.” He says, distracted now. Mark doesn’t look like he thought Ethan would react to that one. He throws an arm over the back of the couch, facing him, and tilts his head. 

“Mmm, maybe I’m jealous. The Shadow sounds like he has a crush on you.” Mark says, grinning. Ethan giggles and pulls his knees to his chest. Will the adrenaline ever wear off? Mark’s still smiling goofily, but his eyes don’t stray from his. 

“What if he does. Wanna make out and make him jealous instead?” Ethan asks, leaning in with over puckered lips. 

Mark scoffs and puts a hand over his mouth, pushing him away and standing up. 

“I’m gonna go see what’s in those bags, instead.” He says, then jumps up from the couch. 

“No! Those are for Christmas!” Ethan exclaims, getting up and chasing after the man. They race to the kitchen and have a mini slap fight over the bags, before Ethan takes them in his hands for his room. Mark gives up and orders them some food. 

It’s actually a really good day. 

-

Despite his experience, Ethan keeps himself anonymous in the police report and doesn’t tell anyone aside from Mark about what happened. Not even his parents. He doesn’t want to have to end up making a video on it. Besides, the Shadow seems like the type to prefer to stay out of the public eye. 

Ethan’s still obsessed, though. 

He reads up and watches all of the reports on the vigilante. Reading all of the theories people have of him online. Now that he’s seen him in real life, he can easily spot when someone is faking having seen him. Like when they claim he’s 7 feet tall, or that he apparently petrified someone’s attacker just by looking in their eyes. 

Well, who knows really. He did avoid looking in Ethan’s during their entire exchange. 

Ethan, true to his word, does go to the movies. He does chill outside more. He does go out for drinks with friends then walk in the dark alone back to his car. He isn’t actively looking for danger, he just feels safe. Protected. Sure, maybe the Shadow does say that to everyone, but Ethan can’t help but be swept up into the almost romance of it all. He wants to see him again. He won’t chase the danger, but he probably wouldn’t run from it either. 

Turning into a classically sketchy alleyway, Ethan continues his walk towards his car. He shivers, having not worn a coat as it was meant to be warmer today. It got cold as hell the moment the sun went down. 

As he nears the road on the other side of the alleyway, he hears glass breaking. A car window, or a store window, perhaps. No alarm goes off, but Ethan can hear people talking, shuffling around the corner like they’re hauling something through the shattered window. Thieves. 

Ethan, despite everything he told himself he wouldn’t do, steps forward slowly. Approaching the end of the alleyway where the people are around the corner. 

Suddenly, hands pull him to the side, into a gap in the wall next to him. 

“How am I meant to protect you if you’re trying to get hurt?” 

It’s him. He presses Ethan against the wall then backs up a foot, face towards the space between them. 

“I wanted to see you again. To see if you were telling the truth.” Ethan says breathlessly. 

“Well I was. Turn back around and take the regular way to your car. Stop turning down dark alleys and walking towards obvious danger.” The man’s deep robotic voice orders angrily. He turns to leave. 

Ethan reaches out, surprising himself, grabbing onto the man’s arm. The armoured fabric feels cool. Like metal or something. 

“Is it true that your eyes petrify whoever looks into them?” Ethan asks. The Shadow turns around, pulling his arm from Ethan’s hand gently. 

“No.”

“Then why have you never looked at me?” 

“Anonymity.” The Shadow simply answers. 

“I doubt I’ll be able to recognise you in a crowd just by your eyes. C’mon, you can’t give me special treatment then expect me not to want to know you.”

The Shadow’s hands squeeze into fists, then open back up, before he lifts his face, finally revealing his eyes, surrounded by black. Like he’s wearing black makeup around his dark eyes so Ethan doesn’t know his skin colour. 

It’s dark so Ethan guesses they’re brown. Could easily be black, though. 

Ethan shivers as a gust of freezing wind blows and it starts to drizzle a bit. 

“Why didn’t you wear a coat...” the Shadow mumbles, like to himself, then suddenly he reaches for his neck and un-clasps his cloak and drapes it over Ethan’s shoulders, pulling the hood over his head. It’s so warm. The Shadow’s eyes watch where his hands clasp the cloak around Ethan’s neck. 

Now, he’s left in just his black armoured suit. 

Ethan doesn’t know why, but he reaches up to the man’s face, fingers grazing over his jaw. He wonders..is it a mask, or a full suit that zips on the back of the head?

“Don’t..” Shadow says, suddenly backing away. 

“I wasn’t going to pull it off, I just wanted to—“ Ethan simply blinks and the man is gone from his sight. He looks around, but he’s alone. 

With a deep breath, he pulls the warm cloak around his arms and turns away, leaving the way he came to head back to his car. 

He isn’t too worried. He knows the man’s eyes are on him now, even if he can’t see him. 

-

Mark is asleep when Ethan gets home. The boy takes the large cloak off and folds it over the back of the couch, then pads down the hall, passing up his room and heading into Mark’s instead. 

He shucks his jeans off and crawls into the bed. Mark hums as the bed jostles and reaches for him. Ethan doesn’t even stop to care. He turns around and cuddles up against the man so he’s being spooned. Mark’s arm around him pulls him close, lips pressing to the back of Ethan’s head. 

“I want you to meet him.” Ethan whispers. He doesn’t even care that their cuddling currently is definitely not a regular thing. He’s too excited to care in the slightest. He’s also really tired, though. 

“Sounds good, babe.” Mark slurs, then his hand slides up under Ethan’s shirt and comes to rest hotly on his chest. 

Suddenly, Ethan’s not so asleep. He realises that Mark is definitely half or maybe even fully asleep right now. He probably doesn’t even realise it’s Ethan he’s spooning right now. 

“Wanna make out?” Ethan asks just in case Mark is awake and testing him or something crazy like that. The man’s hand slides down his chest and instead holds his waist. 

“Mmm, yea.” Mark mumbles nearly incoherently. 

Ethan takes a breath. Definitely asleep. Okay. He shuts his eyes and just accepts it. Whatever, he can sleep with Mark’s warm hand gripping his waist. It’s fine. This is fine. 

-

The next day, Ethan begs Mark to come along but the man says he will be fucked if he doesn’t record for his main channel, so Ethan begrudgingly goes alone. 

He takes an Uber (let’s not let Mark know about that little fact) to that same parking garage from before. It’s meant to rain today, so there’s basically nobody parked on the top level. Perfect. 

Ethan, with the cloak held folded in his arms, leans against the tall ledge and waits. This one is too tall to look over, probably to prevent suicides. The rain is just light right now, not enough to annoy him. He doesn’t have to wait for long, anyway. 

“You’re going to get a cold.” The familiar deep robotic voice says, crouched on the ledge above him. 

Ethan just watches him hop down, making literally not a single noise when he hits the concrete. He holds the cloak out for him. The Shadow takes it and puts it on, replacing his hood on his head. 

Ethan steps towards him. The Shadow doesn’t move as he’s approached. He watches him with dark eyes. More brown, not black, Ethan can confirm. Maybe even a hint of green, though that might just be the lighting. 

The boy places his hand on the Shadow’s armoured chest, feeling the warmth from underneath. He must be human, right?

“Ethan...” the man trails off, watching him carefully. 

“I never told you my name.” Ethan says, looking up at him challengingly. The Shadow just stands stock still, hands in fists at his sides. 

“How do you know me? Why are you giving me special treatment? Do you watch my channel, or mine and Mark’s? Are you a stalker? Gaining my trust so you can murder me yourself?” Ethan asks him. The Shadow’s eyes narrow. 

“I have my reasons. You’re protected, isn’t that all you need? Why do you crave answers?” 

The rain picks up, soaking Ethan’s hair to his forehead. He runs his hand through it, pushing the wet strands back annoyingly. 

“Cause you’re so mysterious. I want to know your reasons. Why do you care what happens to me? I’m just some dude from Maine with a YouTube channel!” Ethan exclaims over the rain. 

Suddenly, The Shadow’s hands are on his waist and he’s being pressed up against the tall ledge next to them. 

“Close your eyes. I’ll show you why.” 

Ethan does as he’s told, squeezing his eyes shut. It’s pouring, now. He hears a noise, a click, then there’s a hand on his chin and lips against his own.

Facial hair, is all Ethan can think. The Shadow has facial hair. Not long, but notjust stubble. 

In a weird way, the kiss feels familiar. Like he’s kissing someone he’s always been around. Like he’s not kissing literally a stranger he’s met hardly three times. 

It’s a short kiss but it’s extremely passionate, then The Shadow pulls back. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” He whispers. No voice changer, but it’s a quiet and breathy enough whisper that Ethan couldn’t say what his voice would really sound like. 

When he opens his eyes, he’s alone. He pushes away from the ledge and whips around, trying to find the man. 

“What does that mean?!” Ethan shouts, not sure if the Shadow can even hear him. 

What does he mean how long? His first appearance was less than a month ago. Ethan thought they met a week ago, but maybe not. Maybe Ethan has met the man underneath. The man who apparently knows him just fine..

How long has he known Ethan?

-

“You’re acting weird.” Mark says, stirring brownie mix at the island. Ethan sits on the other side, watching the circular motion of his hand. 

“Sorry. I feel weird.” Ethan murmurs. 

“Something happen yesterday when you returned the cloak?” Mark asks. He’d been recording when Ethan had gotten home, so the boy had hopped in the shower and did his own thing until he went to sleep that night. 

“Not really.” Ethan hates lying, but what would he say? 

‘Aw ya know, just sucked face with the Shadow! Just a regular day for me, really!’ ?? Ethan wants to roll his eyes at his own thoughts. God, not only is the Shadow a stranger to him, but he’s a man! An actual male dude! Since when does Ethan go for those? He’s not 100% straight, it’s a spectrum as he’s said before, but kissing a dude in the rain on top of a parking garage like some romantic movie scene? 

Why does he want to do it again? 

“You’re hiding things but I won’t push..just..you’re okay, right?” Mark stops mixing, mouth set in a serious line. 

Ethan blinks out of his own thoughts and smiles, looking to his friend. 

“I’m okay. Just conflicted but I’ll figure it out.” He takes the chocolate covered whisk from Mark when it’s handed to him, licking it while the man pours the brownies into the pan. He’s quite good in the kitchen when he isn’t fucking around for a video. The quiet methodical side to him shines more. 

As Ethan watches him, he suddenly gets a terrible actually bad idea. Mark’s been so much more touchy lately. Cuddling him at night, a hand on his shoulder as he passes him in the hall, hugging him before one of them leaves the house. Sure, it’s probably just because they never know if it’s the last time they see each other, but maybe Mark wouldn’t be so offended at his idea. 

He can’t see the Shadow again until he can figure himself out first. He can’t confront the man until he knows what to say. Sitting here wondering if he’s gay while people are getting murdered outside isn’t helping much. 

“Wanna make out?” Ethan asks. Mark chuckles, turning and setting the brownies in the oven. 

“Sure, gimme a sec.” he says, all goofy, then starts to clean up after cooking. When he reaches for the whisk from Ethan’s hand, he looks at his face and stops, seeing the serious expression he’s got going on. 

Mark’s smile immediately drops. 

“What?” 

“Do you want to make out?” Ethan repeats, confidence dwindling by the second. What is he even asking right now? Why would he want to test his sexuality with Mark of all people? Oh god, he’s disgusted isn’t he? He’s going to ask Ethan to move back in his own place, won’t he?

“Is this some experimental thing or do you actually want to kiss me?” Mark asks, cheeks slightly reddening. Ethan looks away, unable to stand Mark’s piercing stare. What is he actually doing right now? Oh no, he regrets everything. What even would the better answer be? He’s looked up to Mark for a long time, and sure, he’ll admit the guy’s a hot dude. He’s always been. 

Why wouldn’t Ethan want to kiss him? Or will that just confuse him further? Maybe he’s just bi. 

Maybe he’s just terribly overthinking every single thing in this situation. 

“Um, I don’t know..” Ethan decides to say. Mark sets down the whisk and steps around the island and spins Ethan’s chair so he’s facing him. Then, he leans in, hands on the counter on either side of the boy. 

“What happened when you met with the Shadow?” Mark asks, so close to him. Ethan leans back against the island behind him, hand gripping the sleeve of Mark’s sweater in surprise. 

“Why?” Ethan asks. 

“You come home and now suddenly you’re questioning your sexuality.”

“How do you know I’m questioning it?” 

“You never wanted to kiss me before.”

“What makes you so sure?” Ethan asks sassily, not even really thinking about what he’s arguing for. What he might be accidentally admitting that he doesn’t even think is true. 

“I won’t kiss you unless you really want it. I’m not going to let you experiment on me. That’s kind of fucked, ya know.” 

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d mind. It doesn’t have to mean anything—“

“No, I’m sure it doesn’t.” Mark’s jaw is tight. He backs away and leaves the room. Ethan hears the man’s door close seconds later. He swivels back to the island and waits for the brownies to get done, trying to figure out what went wrong. 

What does Mark even mean?

-

As an apology, Ethan buys Mark two tickets to the premiere of the new scary movie everyone’s been wanting to see. 

“You can take whoever. I’ll watch Chica. I’m just sorry, I wasn’t really thinking. I just feel like I’ve completely changed as a person since the moment those guys came into this house with those guns.”

“Nonsense. Put on your shoes, c’mon.” Mark rolls his eyes as if he can’t fathom bringing anyone else. 

Ethan complies, smiling sheepishly. 

-

The movie is shit. Shit enough that half an hour in Mark leans over and asks if he wants to walk down to the club down the street instead to fuck around and have some fun. 

They walk down the dark wet sidewalk, throwing out shit ideas for unus annus videos as they walk. Mark can’t drink but they head for the club anyway. Whatever, when’s the last time they danced in a crowd together? 

They’re probably laughing too loud but nobody’s really around on the quiet street. Though The Shadow’s actions have reduced the crime rate, people are still cautious to go outside. The man can’t save everyone at once, obviously. Ethan wonders if he is watching now. If he’s jealous, maybe. 

Ethan loops his arm through Mark’s, cold. The man chuckles and accepts it, escorting him. 

Suddenly, they’re yanked into a tiny alleyway as they pass it. 

“Where you fag’s off to?” A man asks, holding a shiny handgun. God, how many people own guns in this town?

“Wrong people to mess with, guy. I’d leave now if I were you.” Mark says. 

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” The man asks. Ethan looks away, scanning the roof ledges above them for a dark figure watching them. 

“The Shadow is watching.” Ethan says, hands held up in surrender, but this time, he isn’t scared. Not even in the slightest. Any second now, the man will be taken down, and Mark will finally get to meet him. 

“Oooo, so spooky. Hate to disappoint, but your great hero can’t save everyone.”

The gunshot is so loud that Ethan can’t hear for a few seconds. He watches Mark tackle the dude, and he wonders where the bullet went. 

When Mark steps back from the dude, Ethan can see the shooter’s neck twisted unnaturally. Did Mark break that dudes neck? He can feel wetness on his chest. He looks down to find blood spreading quickly through his shirt. 

“Oh, it’s me.” Ethan chokes, then his knees give out. 

He doesn’t hit the ground because suddenly Mark is there to catch him, eyes panicked. 

“Mommy, come look!” A kid cries in horror, standing at the entrance to the alleyway with wide eyes. They can hear heeled shoes quickly approaching. 

Suddenly, Ethan’s weightless and the ground is quickly disappearing below him. He’s lied down on a rooftop and then Mark is closing his eyes, both hands over his wound. 

“M-m—“

“No, don’t talk, baby. It’s punctured your heart. I have less than a minute. Please, just don’t freak out.” Mark says quickly, then he shuts his eyes. A soft glow emerges through the cracks between his fingers and Ethan can feel the pain of something being moved inside of him. 

He shouts in pain, hand clutching Mark’s shirt, brain fuzzing a bit. 

Then, relief. Suddenly, the pain is gone. His breathing returns to normal. The bullet dings onto the roof below them as if it was never in Ethan’s chest. The fuzziness wears off. 

Mark leans back onto his heels and takes a deep breath, hands pressing to his temples. 

Ethan lies in shock as he suddenly realises what’s just happened. What this means. 

“Y-you’re...” he can’t say it. He can’t believe it. Did they just fucking _fly_ up here? Did Mark really just pull the bullet out and heal his would all without getting a single drop of blood on him? Did Mark really just kill a dude? Wait, did he call him baby?

“I mean, fuck, are you okay?” Ethan asks, sitting up once his shock lets him move. Mark opens his eyes, blinking slowly, face white like he’s seen a ghost. 

“I can’t heal too often. It takes a lot out of me. Especially when I have to pull a bullet out at the same time.” Mark sighs and rocks back off of his heels and sits against the ledge of the building instead. How many stories are they up anyway? It’s really cold and windy up here. 

“I don’t understand..why didn’t you tell me you were The Shadow?” Ethan asks, pointing an accusing finger. Mark rests his head back against the ledge and clenches and unclenches his fists over and over. 

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t. You aren’t allowed to know. They’ll kill you. I’m going to have to delete your memory within the next day.”

“Who’s they? What the fuck is happening? We’re just youtubers!” Ethan exclaims. He might be freaking the fuck out right now. 

There’s sirens below. Cops and ambulances. Then suddenly, a helicopter flying in from the distance. While he and Mark are casually sat on the roof. 

When Ethan looks back to Mark from the helicopter, suddenly he’s The Shadow, in all black, the cloak around him. He reaches for Ethan then suddenly they’re up. Ethan holds on tightly even though he feels like he weighs nothing. It’s like if Mark touches him when he flies it gives him the weightlessness to fly as well. Ethan wonders if he’s dreaming. The buildings fly past quickly until they’re passed the buildings. Mark’s cloak waves around him beautifully as they approach the ground. 

Ethan’s shaky when he’s back on solid ground. His knees give and then he’s sat in soft sand. It takes him a stupid amount of time to hear the water. They’re at the beach. He can only see the waves from the moon reflecting off of them. It’s really dark out here. Mark settles gracefully next to him. With a click, his suit disappears right in front of Ethan’s eyes. Morphing into him like some sort of chameleon or something. 

“This can’t be real.” Ethan says. He swears his brain actually physically hurts trying to wrap his head around this. He’s been working with Mark everyday now for months on their channel! Before that, he saw him at least twice a week!

Trying to put the Shadow and Mark as the same person in his head is fucking him up like nothing else. Only, it makes a lot of sense. It makes perfect sense, really. 

“I couldn’t let you kiss me yesterday because I was worried you would recognise me from the parking garage.” Mark explains, as if he can read his mind. 

“Can you read my mind?” Ethan asks, hoping to god the answer is no. That would be so fucking embarrassing. The amount of times he’s said stupid shit is insane. 

“No.”

“Who else knows?”

“Nobody. The people who have found out must be wiped or they will be killed.” 

“Why can’t I know?” 

“You aren’t my spouse. That is the only exception.” 

Ethan turns to him excitedly. 

“Let’s get married, then!” 

Mark laughs, but it’s sad. He picks at the shells in the sand between them, making a pile of them. Ethan frowns, watching him. 

“What will I forget?” He murmurs after a minute of silence. He’s scared, actually. He doesn’t want to forget anything. 

“You will know of Shadow, but you won’t have any memories of any interaction. You won’t remember any conversations we had about your interactions, and you won’t remember the events that led up to the interactions. I will go from right before you finished grocery shopping and fill the holes with other things you won’t care to look into too much.” 

“I don’t want to forget.” Ethan might cry. Mark has saved his life so many times. This is probably the coolest and most interesting thing that he’s experienced, and it’s all just going to be deleted? Like an old ugly photo. Just tossed in the recycle bin like nothing. 

Mark smiles and reaches for him, taking his hand and squeezing it. 

“You won’t know you’ve forgotten anything. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be back to your regular self. I will still just be your friend Mark. No magic shit.” 

Ethan has so many questions, but he guesses that they don’t really matter now. He’s just going to forget anyway. 

“At the parking garage, did you mean it when you said you had been wanting that for a long time?” 

Mark looks out to the water, eyes shiny in the moonlight. He’s exceptionally pretty. 

“Yeah.” He admits, then his eyes widen when Ethan crawls across the sand to him and climbs into his lap, straddling him like it’s nothing. 

“I actually want it this time. No experiments.” 

Mark looks up at him, jaw clenching. 

“Oh now you want me? Now that you know I’m the Shadow?” 

Ethan rolls his eyes, letting his hands feel up into the man’s hair. It’s so soft. 

“No, I’ve thought about it a few times, just never let myself think on it for too long. I always saw you as so far above me that I could never even fathom the idea of you feeling even a little something for me.” 

“Mmm, so oblivious.” Mark murmurs, tucking a strand of Ethan’s hair behind his ear. Then finally, kissing him. 

Yep, Ethan would have immediately recognised this. The facial hair scratching at his cheek. His lips, so soft. He’s a really good kisser, which is not that surprising actually. Mark’s kind of good at everything. 

He lies back in the sand, taking Ethan with him, deepening the kiss as his hands feel up Ethan’s back. 

Ethan feels like he’s in an alternate universe. He feels like an entirely different person than he was a month ago. 

Now, there’s no goofs. No gaffs. Now, Mark groans deep in his throat as Ethan kisses down his neck. He leans up, hands on the man’s chest, and looks down at him, sprawled on the soft sand. The waves crashing down at the shoreline, the moon so bright now that they’re away from the lights of the city. It’s probably the most romantic kiss Ethan’s ever had. 

“Don’t delete this.” Ethan pleads, tangling their fingers so Mark knows what he’s asking. The man blinks like he’s trying not to get emotional and looks up at the black sky. 

“This never would have happened if we didn’t have that first kiss at the parking garage.”

Ethan wipes at his eyes, hand cupping Mark’s cheek. He’s feeling so many feelings right now and he doesn’t know how to get them across. 

“I don’t want to go back to just friends. Sort of flirting with each other but mainly for bits. Promise me you’ll make a move.”

“Will the you from before want that, though? You have to remember where your mind was a month or two ago.” Mark reminds him. 

“I got it. Say something like, dirty or just flirt or something but then look serious. I’ll laugh but then I’ll think about it all day and wonder if you were joking or not. Give it a few days then kiss me when I least expect it. It’s fool proof. By that point I’ll have overthought about it enough that I’ll already have thought of ten different ways to do whatever it was you said.” 

Mark looks impressed. He grins. 

“Wow, who knew that overthinking could be helpful.” He jokes. 

Ethan smiles, shrugging. It’s quiet for a bit. Ethan lies down on his chest. 

“Well if I’m gonna forget this conversation might as well...if we end up married would my memories be restored?” Ethan just goes out and says it. Whatever, he won’t be able to remember it and be embarrassed later. Mark laughs, anyway. 

“Yeah, I could. Would you like that?” 

Ethan shrugs, nodding at the same time. He’s shy for some reason. 

“You’ll have to get me to say yes first.” He says. Mark grins, pulling a hand behind his head hotly. 

“Won’t be a problem for me. I’ve kissed you twice and you’re already talking marriage.” Mark’s clearly kidding but Ethan pushes at his face and scoffs anyway. 

“When are you going to do it?” Ethan asks. Mark then sits up, and Ethan watches the sand lift from his hair and fall to the ground on its own accord. Like liquid or something. What a magic little shit he is. 

“In a few minutes. You’ll fall asleep and when you wake up tomorrow you’ll have forgotten.” 

Ethan nods and leans forward, kissing him once again. He really savours it, so he can remember if they ever do get married. He doesn’t really know. This is all so new. Even with their lips together, Ethan can’t wrap his head around it. He’s kissing Mark, and Mark wants it as well. It’s insane. 

“Does it hurt?” Ethan asks when they pull away, nervous. Mark presses kisses along his jaw. 

“Not a bit. I’ve already started.” 

Ethan then notices Mark’s hand on his cheek, his fingers pressing behind Ethan’s ear. The boy grips Mark’s shirt in fear. 

“Remember for the both of us, okay?” Ethan asks. Mark nods, smiling, but he looks sad. 

Ethan just maintains eye contact until his vision starts to slowly blur. Then abruptly, nothing. He’s out. 

-

When Ethan wakes up, he has a killer headache and he’s craving popcorn for some reason. 

Slipping out of bed, he tip toes down Mark’s cold floor to the kitchen, where he gets some headache medicine, downing it with a glass of water. He spots Mark, on the couch editing their video for tomorrow. 

“Mmm, that’s a good one.” Ethan says, still blinking sleep from his eyes. It’s true. The viewers are gonna love the video. 

Mark stands up with the laptop, bringing it to Ethan at the island. 

“Yep. Can you finish the ending, actually? I need go head for a run before lunch. You slept in, by the way.” 

Ethan groans, rolling his eyes. He was up all night watching Netflix, he barely cares to remember. It doesn’t matter. He promises himself that he will head to bed early tonight.

Mark sets the laptop down and looks at him, then does a double take. 

“What? Is there sleep goop in my eye?” Ethan asks, rubbing them with fists but not feeling anything. 

“No, it’s just the lighting. You look really...” Mark trails off, his eyes dark, jaw slacked, as he looks down to Ethan’s lips. 

The boy instinctively licks them, and Mark blinks like he’s getting out of his own thoughts, shaking his head. 

“Anyway, I should um..” he swirls on his heel and leaves to change for his run. 

Ethan, confused, turns to the laptop to finish the video. He can only focus on it for about a minute before he remembers the way Mark’s eyes dropped to his lips and lingered there. Like he was thinking of kissing him or something. 

Nah, Mark? Thinking of kissing Ethan? Ethan, who idolised him for years and became his friend by sheer chance? There’s no way in hell. 

Ethan scoffs at his own thoughts and goes back to editing. For about another 20 seconds, then he remembers the way Mark’s pupils dilated as they looked at him. Ethan’s properly distracted by his thoughts now. That was so weird, that interaction. He must just be sleepy and imagining things. Mark, his friend Mark, definitely would not think about kissing him. 

...unless?

**Author's Note:**

> Pls leave a comment and lemme know what you think. I know it was rushed and short but I couldn’t get this out of my head and had to get it written!


End file.
